Does an OS even really matter on an HTPC? Networking on any Linux build is cake as it makes the simple concept of samba sharing...Well.. Simple.. Unlike Windows which makes simple folder sharing across a network more of an asshole process than Chinese arithmetic.

Build PCLoad with mediaInstall XBMCProfit..

cman:Swoop1809:Ubuntu has a release that is focused around Boxee. Google it, it may interest you

47 is the new 42:I hated Unity. I don't customize a lot of stuff, but I do just a bit for my personal preferences, and I prefer it to be easy.. Unity took that away. I'm currently using Linux Mint with MATE. I have yet to try Cinnamon. Once the final release of the next Linux Mint is released, I might decided to download the Cinnamon. I've never really tried KDE.

Unity isn't bad once you give it a shot but it's still just not how I want to work.. You should really try Linux Mint Debian Edition.. It feels great to rid yourself of Ubuntus bloat and buggy crap.. They have a lot of great ideas but their execution sucks..

Canonical reminds me of Samsung.. They take a great solid stable base (debian testing) and add in all their bullshiat to make it pretty and `unique' (touchwiz). In turn making it bloated and buggy. Ubuntu..

GNOME wanted to be Steve Jobs. They wanted to be so good they could ignore what users told them -- because they knew what users wanted better than the users did.

Unfortunately, they nailed the "ignoring criticism and condescending to users as if they were small children" aspect of Steve Jobs but fell short on the "perfectionist visionary genius" part that made him tolerable.

DjangoStonereaver:Personally, I prefer XFCE, and don't understand why Linus switched back to KDE.

Because kernel hackers and developers have no skin in the long-term supportability of applications within an environment.

Because of short-sighted crap like this, application houses hate linux because of all the variants caused by someone making a selfish decision somewhere which causes all the install base to re-engineer their products. Do that enough times and they abandon the platform for the most part.

Linux on the desktop will hit the big leagues any day^H^H^Hyear^H^H^H^Hdecade now.